It being the day before the spring festival,there was a line for the bathing tubs at the Portside Inn.Roarkspent his time waiting drinking ale, which was called beer here,and casually questioning Digby, the proprietor, a genial, talkativeman who ran a clean, honest establishment.
“I saw a girl, a young woman, with long brownhair riding a roan with black stockings along the shoreline today,”he said.“There was a big, brown hound with them.”
“That’d be Princess Alina on her mare,Brynja,” Digby said.“The hound’s name be Beast, which is what heis, and why the princess can ride without escort around the docksand town.”
“She rides with an escort otherwise?”
Digby nodded.“She and her mother, the queen,they don’t ride anywhere without a guard or three with them.”
“If the mother looks anything like thedaughter,” Roark said, “I can see why.”
“Aye, they’re both beauties they are,” Digbysaid.“The king, he’s a mite protective of them.”
Roark nodded.This was good to know.“Whatkind of ruler is King Jerrik?”he asked.
“King Jerrik be fairer than most from what Ihear sailors from other parts say,” Digby continued.“Sea Ridge hasmore than prospered under his and the queen’s rule.Our trading’sten times what it was before them, which brings all kinds of otherbusiness as well, and there’s no slavery.Here, a person works forfair pay and pays fair taxes.”
“Which go into the king’s coffers?”
Digby shook his head.“They get put rightback into the community.Which is how we have such good roads,docks, and warehouses, and why if a family’s having hard timesthrough no fault of their own, they won’t go cold or hungry.”
“How does the king pay for his householdthen?”
Digby grinned and touched the side of nose.“Three of those ships in the harbor are King Jerrik’s,” he said.“He has another two at sea.He was a rich trader afore he becameking,
and he’s an even richer trader now.”
“I see.”Roark emptied his cup and pushed itforward for a refill.“What about the jarls he forced out?Theone’s whose lands and property he took without recompense when hebecame king?”
Digby shook his balding head.“Don’t knownothing ’bout that, unless you be asking ’bout his murderous uncleand his yellow beards.”He glanced over at the entrance to thebathhouse where two sailors from southern climes by their looks anddress, were coming out.“You’re next,” he said.
***
“You’d better get going, missy,” Hamar toldAlina.“Else you’ll be late for supper again.”
She unclasped her apron and tossed it ontothe pile of dirty aprons worn by the stable hands.After her ridealong the shoreline, she’d been helping the stablemaster dose theyearlings for worms with a paste of hyssop, fennel, and garlic.Herhands and arms were covered with the paste and horse slobber.Splashing water over her face and arms, she dried off with a toweland then wiped her tunic and skirts with it.It would have to do.She had no time to change.
“Here she is,” her father said, eyeing thetelltale stains of dried seawater on her skirts as Alina slid ontoher seat at the high table to her mother’s left.“You rode alongthe bay shore today, I take it?”
“I did.Then I helped Hamar worm the foals,which is why I was almost late,” she said as the servants laidtrenchers of food on the table.
“We have stable hands for that,” her fathersaid with an indulgent grin.
“I know.”She grinned back.“But Hamar saysthe foals don’t vomit it back up when I dose them.”
Her mother, who never met an animal shedidn’t like other than a snake, smiled and shook her head.“You andHamar and your concoctions.”
“One would almost think she was Hamar’sdaughter,” her father teased.
“Still not amusing,” her mother chided,though her eyes crinkled up at the corners.
Alina grinned at the old jest between herparents and tucked into her supper of salted cod, boiled beets andcarrots, hard cheese, and rye bread.Glad to have a full, satedbelly, she’d be gladder still when the first tender greens ofspring sprouted and the stone fruits in the orchard budded andripened.
Tomorrow, the carpenters would move the glasspanes on the roof of the greenhouse to welcome the spring sun, andAlina would plant seeds for broccoli, cabbage, and spinach in theraised beds she’d been tending all winter.Once the seedlings werehardy enough and the last frost had come and gone, they would betransplanted into the outdoor gardens.
Her father had designed the three removablepanels to take seasonal advantage of the sun, along with apermanent glass window in the three walls without a door, anexpense that had paid off by affording them an early and extraharvest of vegetables, and a constant store of fresh and driedherbs for which cooks and healers traveled from a hundred leaguesaway to buy and trade.Alina loved trading herbs and knowledge withthem, and had learned of many exotic herbs and their uses, severalof which now grew in her greenhouse.
The glass panes reminded Alina of the man onThe Rover.“I saw a man on a ship with a looking glass todaywhen I was riding,” she said.
